An electrical contractor struck a gas line at John Wayne Airport about 7:30 a.m. today, forcing authorities to block traffic into part of the airport and to evacuate some areas, according to emergency responders. No one was injured by the leaking gas. By 8:30 a.m. workers from the Southern California Gas Co. had capped the 2-inch line and vehicle traffic was allowed to flow again, airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said. No flights were canceled but some may have been delayed as passengers had trouble reaching the terminal, she added.

An argument at a Costa Mesa gas station Monday night culminated in a would-be gas thief hitting an attendant with his car, police said. A man attempted to steal gas from an Arco station in the 2600 block of Newport Boulevard about 8:20 p.m. when an employee confronted him, Costa Mesa police Lt. Greg Scott said. As the employee tried to take down the car's license plate number, the man backed up, hitting the employee with his car, Scott said. The employee was unhurt, but police are treating the incident as an assault with a deadly weapon.

ne thing is clear when it comes to rising gas prices: they’re going to keep on rising. We can’t do much about that, so to save money we need to be concerned with what we are in control of: the way we use it. The following are key strategies for keeping gas in your tank, and cash in your wallet... straight from the experts. Lighten your loafers The single biggest change you can make to your gas consumption is easing up on the throttle, especially those “jackrabbit starts” coming off a red light.

Two people were burned Monday when the gas from a burst utility pipe ignited in Newport Beach, fire department officials said. About 11:24 a.m., firefighters responded to a gas line rupture on Cypress Street, where two people had suffered first- and second-degree burns to their arms. The two were doing construction on a home there and while digging, broke the natural gas and electrical lines, officials said. The gas ignited and shot flames up to 15 feet in the air, firefighters said.

Talk about a wake-up call. A gas station attendant working the coffee machine got a rude surprise Sunday morning when a 57-year-old woman who thought she was putting her car in reverse plowed into the store. The woman put her Jeep Liberty into drive rather than reverse at Chevron, 3000 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. When she started moving, she panicked and hit the gas instead of the brake, Officer Scott Dibble said. “It was so scary, everything fell down and the door broke,” said Zeineb Abrahim, the clerk who scrambled to get out of the way of the car. “I didn’t believe the car was inside.

Trying to do its part to soften the blow from ever-rising gas prices, the Orange County Transportation Authority announced Thursday it’s offering commuters free one-day bus passes from Monday to June 20. The agency wants people to join a growing trend of commuters using public transportation, officials said. Nationally, the public took 2.6 billion trips on public transportation during the first three months of 2008, more than a 3% increase from last year. Light rail ridership increased more than 10%, officials said.

Deepa Bharath NEWPORT BEACH -- Several people were evacuated from the Union Bank building on Dover Drive and a stretch of Westcliff Drive was closed Tuesday afternoon following a line break that caused a gas leak in the building, officials said. The gas pipe was broken by a truck that was painting the building, said Newport Beach Fire Battalion Chief George Pearce. No one was injured, nor was there any danger of the building blowing up, he said. Employees on the third floor smelled the gas and called the fire department around 1:35 p.m., Pearce said.

Photos and interviews by Stefanie Frith The Daily Pilot asked fifth-graders at Adams Elementary School in Costa Mesa: What do you think about the rising gasoline prices, and what are some alternative ways of getting around town? "Prices are really high. They need to find more gas. People should ride their bikes or their Razor [scooter] or use electric cars or buses. And bikes are good exercise." AARON GROSS, 10 Costa Mesa "The prices are going up too much.

Throughout the Memorial Day weekend, the Helpful Guys and Girls in Blue visited local movie theaters to be….Helpful. Lucky moviegoers were able to avoid long lines and sold out ticket windows by receiving free movie tickets and vouchers, courtesy of the Southern California Honda Dealers. On Saturday and Sunday, fans visiting Newport Beach theaters to see “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” were treated to a free showing. This is just one of the many unexpected ways the Helpful Guys and Girls in Blue have been helping local residents this year.

A man and woman held up a Newport Beach gas station at gunpoint early Tuesday, according to police. Around midnight, an employee working in the Chevron station at Bristol Street and Irvine Avenue let the pair inside to shop in the station's convenience mart. After a certain time at night, the store's doors have to be manually buzzed open for customers, police said. After letting in the shoppers, "[the cashier is] going about her business behind the counter; she looks up and one of the suspects is standing right in front of her," Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said.

About half a dozen units from the Newport Beach Fire Department responded to a gas leak that sparked an evacuation over the weekend, but the quick reaction of a landlord brought the situation under control, a fire official said. A construction crew working in the lobby of an office building at 610 Newport Center Drive accidentally drilled into a 4-inch gas line about 2:20 p.m. Saturday, department Division Chief Ron Gamble said. The resulting noise was so loud you could hear it at a gym across a small courtyard from the building, according to Gamble.

Newport Beach City Council members dealt with the most recent round in the ongoing fire ring debate Tuesday by striking not a match but a compromise. Aware of mounting health concerns related to wood smoke, council members voted unanimously to reduce the 60 wood-fueled fire rings on the city's beaches to 27. With council member Leslie Daigle absent, they also cleared the way for their possible participation in a pilot program with the South Coast Air Quality Management District to test the use of new rings to be fueled by natural gas. "Is it perfect for either side?

Newport Beach residents may soon be one step closer to roasting marshmallows beachside over natural gas-burning fire rings. City staff plans to recommend at Tuesday's City Council meeting that council members approve city participation in a pilot project with the South Coast Air Quality Management District to install natural gas fire rings in certain beach areas, while also removing some of the existing wood-fueled fire rings. Currently, 33 fire rings are arranged in the sand near the Balboa Pier and 27 are at Corona del Mar State Beach.

Air quality regulators are set to take a first look next week at proposals that could allow Newport Beach and other cities to replace wood-burning fire rings with alternatively fueled ones. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has floated the idea of partnering with Newport on such a pilot program, though agency spokesman Sam Atwood said Thursday that any jurisdiction interested in testing non-wood-burning fire rings would be welcome to participate. "This is going to be completely voluntary in terms of a city or county deciding if they want to install these fire rings," Atwood said.

An argument at a Costa Mesa gas station Monday night culminated in a would-be gas thief hitting an attendant with his car, police said. A man attempted to steal gas from an Arco station in the 2600 block of Newport Boulevard about 8:20 p.m. when an employee confronted him, Costa Mesa police Lt. Greg Scott said. As the employee tried to take down the car's license plate number, the man backed up, hitting the employee with his car, Scott said. The employee was unhurt, but police are treating the incident as an assault with a deadly weapon.

Residents of eight apartments in the Promontory Point complex just off East Coast Highway and Jamboree Road in Newport Beach were evacuated Monday evening after a car plowed into a building causing a gas leak. The driver, an older man, was pulled from his car by first responders shortly after 5:34 p.m., said Newport Beach Fire Capt. Glenn White. He said the car, a silver minivan, traveled about 15 feet down an embankment and "snapped off a gas meter and a water line. " Firefighters rescued two small white dogs from a neighboring building while their owners were out, he said, after searching nearby apartments and using a reverse 9-1-1 call.

Firefighters evacuated 10 Costa Mesa homes because of a gas leak Friday, authorities said. The leak was reported at about 11:50 a.m. in the 1500 block of Redlands Place after a construction crew punctured a 3/4-inch gas line while excavating on a lot, according to Costa Mesa Fire Department Battalion Chief Fred Seguin and Southern California Gas Co. spokeswoman Angela Sentiman. Because it was an active flow, firefighters from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach evacuated the area, he said.

Cafecito Organico is opening up shop in Costa Mesa. The coffee shop, which holds philosophies in authenticity, recycling and earth-grown goods, opens Saturday at the Lab. "We're very excited to be at the Lab, a sort of landmark in Costa Mesa," said cafe co-owner Angel Orozco. "Our concept fits really well in terms of developing this site. We're looking forward to meeting the community and bringing good coffee to the city. " Cafecito Organico grows all its beans without chemicals and roasts them in a "green" coffee roaster that was designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption by up to 80%. The company also prides itself on affordability, with many drinks costing no more than $4. Cafecito Organico's specialty drinks — the Cafecito and Global Warming — are $5. The business also believes in a zero-waste concept, using items like biodegradable soap.

Costa Mesa's former police chief confirmed in a recent interview that he was suspended and ultimately resigned from the city after an investigation found that he had charged gas for his personal vehicle on a city credit card. "Bad judgment? Yes," said Chris Shawkey, 52. "I should've gone to the city manager and said, 'What do you want me to do?' and work it out that way. But that was really the only thing outside of my employment agreement. " Expense reports submitted to his department over his four years - he was hired in 2006 - show he charged hundreds of gallons of gas across California, Arizona and other states.